Printing press transfer device



Nov. 18, 1941. A. sHlPP 2,262,781

PRINTING PRESS TRANSFER DEVICE Original Filed Aug. 3, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet l 42 aim- 54 E .4 diff@ 2 Nov. 18, 1941. A. sHlPP 2,262,781

PRINTING PRESS TRANSFER DEVICE Original Filed Aug. C5, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 18, 1941 UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICEPRINTING PRESS TRANSFER DEVICE Arthur Shipp, Bergeneld, N. J.

Original application August 3, 1940, Serial No. 350,251. Divided andthis application April 29, 1941, Serial No. 390,880

7 Claims.

This invention relates to printing presses in general and moreespecially to transfer devices for facilitating the feeding andpositioning oi paper, labels, cards and the like intoimpressionreceiving position on a press and constitutes a division ofVmy copending application Serial No. 350,251, led August 3, 1940.

Among the objects of the present invention, it is aimed to provideimproved devices for facilitating the feeding and positioning of paper,labels, cards and the like into impression-receiving position on theprinting platen of a printing press, including guides for initiallystacking one or more stacks or piles of sheets of paper, labels, cardsor the like face to face, with the upper face of the uppermost sheet ofpaper and the like exposed to facilitate simultaneously feeding intoprinting position one sheet of paper or the like at a timesimultaneously from one or more stacks or piles.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide improveddevices for facilitating the feeding and positioning of paper, labels,cards and the like into impression-receiving position on the printingplaten of a printing press,

including guides for initially stacking one or more stacks or piles ofsheets of paper, labels, cards, or the like, either of one size or of adifferent size for each stack, face to face, with the upper face of theuppermost sheet of paper and the like exposed to facilitatesimultaneously feeding into printing position one sheet of paper or thelike at a time simultaneously from one or more stacks or piles. v

It is still another object of the present invention to provide improveddevices for facilitating the feeding and positioning of sheets of paper,labels, cards and the like into impression receiving position on theplaten of a press, and maintaining the sheets ofv paper and the like inprinting position during' the printing operation, including guides forinitially stacking one or more stacks or piles of sheets of paper andthe like on a supply platform, and also grippers or pins on the platenof a press positioned relative to the guides on the supply platform tofacilitate simultaneously tranferring. the sheets of paper from thestacks one at a time to the grippers or pins.

These and other features, capabilities `and advantages of the inventionwill appear from the subjoined detail description of specificembodiments thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in WhichFigure 1 is a fragmental transverse section of a printing press andfeeder equipped with the improvements constituting the presentinvention;

Fig. la is a plan of a printing platen equipped with grippers of thetype illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of one form of grip- Per;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the device shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 3;

Fig.V 6 is a longitudinal section of another form of gripper or pin;l

Fig. '7 is a fragmental section on theline 'I-'I of Fig. 1 showing oneform of guidesv to facilitate stacking one or more stacks or piles ofsheets ofy paper or the like;

Fig. 7a is a section on the line 'Ia- 1a of Fig. '7;

Fig. 8 is a fragmental perspective of a pair of guides of the embodimentillustrated in Fig. '1;

Fig. 9 is a fragmental plan showing a modification of the guides shownin Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a fragmental rear elevation of the supply platform of afeeder equipped with another arrangement of guides;

Fig. 11 is a fragmental plan view of the embodiment illustrated in Fig'.10;

Fig. 12 is a plan view of another form of pin or gripper; and

Fig. 13 is a longitudinal section on the line I3'-I3 of Fig. 12.

In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1, `there is shown the printingpress platen I typical of that extensively used today, such as theChandler 8; Price press, equipped with a feeder 2 of the typeextensively used today such as the Miller automatic feeder disclosed inPatent No. 1,194,- 327. With this combination of platen I and feeder 2,there is provided a supply platform 3 for receiving a stack 4 ofmaterial to be printed. The sheets from the stack 21 are fed to theplaten I by a combination of devices, including a suction cup such asthe suction cup 5 which picks up the uppermost sheet of the stack 21,raising it, whereupon' the feed grippers 6 on the carrier 1 are movedrearward to receive and grip the sheet so raised, which carrier 'I isthen carried forward into engagement with pins or grippers on the platenI while the platen I is in open, slightly inclined position. Accordingto the present invention, the platform 3 has secured y tangular in crosssection. On this rod I6, there are slidably mounted the guiding.brackets I1 arranged in pairs. The brackets I1 each consist essentiallyof the block I9 having a rectangular opening to receive the rod I6, tofix the bracket I1 against rotation on the rod I6 while permittingslidable movement thereon. i

In order to anchor the block I9 against slidable movement on the rod I6,there is provided the set yscrewZII passing through the block I9 toengage the rod I6 and frictionally anchor Vthe block I9 in position onthe rod I6 in the usual Vway. 'To the front face of the block I9 thereis f provided the anglev iron strip 2I having a web 22 in alinement withthe front face of the block I9, and a web 23 extending at right anglesthereto and forwardly thereof.` The bracket I8 is substantiallyidentical tothe bracket I1 except that the web 24 of the angle ironstrip 25 extends from the edge of the web 26 removed from the bracket I1while the web 23 vextends from the edge lof the web 22 removed from thebracket I8. With this arrangement of the webs 23 and 24, see Fig. 7, theuppermost brackets I1 and I8 of a pair may cooperate with a stack 21 ofpaper sheets or labels, cards or the like, illustrated in dashand-dotlines.

With the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 7, the successive pairs ofbrackets I1 and I8, all mounted on the same rod I6, may position aplurality of groups of labels, cards, sheets of material and 'the'likeofdifferent widths, but of one and the same length. vIn other words, thecards of the stack 21 would have the same dimension from the stops 9 totheinner' faces of the webs 22 and 26 of the brackets I1 and I8relative, to the other pairs, but the widths thereof, thatfis, betweenthe inner faces of the webs 23 andi24 of the successive pairs, may vary.Or, to state it differently, the brackets I1 land I8 of yeach pair maylbe adjusted relative to one another to accommodate different widths.

l: If the card or1abe1sueh as tne1abe1 28 of Fig.

9 has one straight edge such as the edge 29 and `an opposite' curvededge, such as the edge 30, jtheweb 3l of the bracket 32 will beconsiderably ywider than the web 33 of the bracketv 34. In all othermaterial respects, the brackets 34 and 32 -of'ja pair are identical tothe brackets I1 and I8 ,of the pair illustrated in Fig. 8.

When the material to be printed is arranged in stacks' 21, the feeder 2will be provided with suctionr'cups 5 positioned one above each stack21. Thereupon, when the operation of the machine is started, the cupswill initially and simultane- AouslyJ engage ,th-e upper faces of thesheets of paper orv the Alike in the stacks 21, land feed them lupward*for engagement by the feed grippers 6 `on the carrier 1 which willthereupon feed the sheetsofpaperl or the'like so being advanced by thecarrier-1 into engagement with grippers on theqplaten I. To cooperatewith the guides formed -by thebrackets I1 of the `embodiment illustratedin Fig. 1, and assuming lthat the Sheets of paper or the like are notonly of the same length but also of the same width as shown in Fig. 1a,then there will be secured to the platen I a corresponding number ofpairs of grippers 35, the two grippers of each pair being positioned onthe platen I to aline with the position of the brackets I1 of itsassociated pair to enable the feed grippers 6 to feed the material froma pair of guides I1 to its associated pair of grippers 35.

In the embodiments shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the form of gripper,designated 35, consists essentially of three spring metal strips 36, 31and 38 secured to one another by the fastening bracket 39. The housing39 consists essentially of an upper plate portion 4I) provided with arear downwardly extending portion 4I having an opening therein to enablethe metal strips 31 and 38 to extend therethrough and then provide witha rearwardly extending portion 42 having an intermediate sharp pointedprong element 43, the forward edge of which is only slightly bentupwardly as shown in Fig. 3, with two prong elements 44 and 45, one toeither side of the prong 43 extending forwardly and terminating in theportions 46 and 41 respectively, short of the front end of the prong 43and having upward bends considerably more acute than the upward bend ofthe prong 43. At the front end of the portion 40 of the housing 39,there is provided a downwardly extending portion 48 with `a tongue 49cut out of the portion 40 and slightly waved, with the upper convex faceof the tongue 49 `engaging the lower face of the strip 38 and pressingit snugly against thev strip 31 in turn to press the forward portion ofthe strip 31 against the lower face of the portion 48. 'Ihe rear lowerface of the strip 36 above the housing 39 is secured to the upper faceof the portion 40 in any suitable way such as welding, soldering, or thelike. The, forward portions of the strips 31 and 38 also are preferablysecured to one another, by welding, solderingv or the like, andsimilarly the upper forward face of the strip 31 is preferably securedto the lower'face of the portion 40 of the housing 39 by welding,soldering or the like.

The portion 4I furthermore has two prongs I4I Iextending down below thelower level of the prong elements 43, 46 and 41.

In the present instance, the sides of the upper strip 31 rearward of theportion 48, have ears 50 bent from the edges thereof to form journalsfor the pin 5I of the knurled Wheel 52 extending through the opening 53in the upper strip 36 and also extending through an opening 54 in theintermediate strip 31 registering with the opening 53 to enable theroller 5I] to engage the upper face of the strip 38.

The prongs 43, 46 and 41 are provided to secure the gripper or pin 35 tothe sheets of paper 55 secured to the upper face of the platen I in theWell-known method customary in the trade,

the prong 43, as shown in Fig. 3, piercing the paper 55 and being buriedunder th-e same with the prongs 46 and 41 to either side thereofdisposed to engage the upper exposed face of the paper 5 While theprongs I4I pierce thev paper 55, as shown.

'I'he rear ends of the strips 36, 31 and 38 have a predetermined curveor bend, as shown, the rear end of the strip 38 being slightly bowed sothat its extreme rear edge snugly engages the upper face of the paper 55to prevent a sheet of paper, label, card or the like being obstructed by1t when fed into gripping engagement by the gripper 6. The rear end ofthe strip 31 on the other hand is bowed to extend upward at aconsiderable angle, in the present instance, of about forty-five degreesto the upper face of the paper 55, and adjacent the upwardly bowed endof the outer strip 36. The two outer strips 36 and 38 are preferablycomposed of half tempered steel of about .009 of an inch in thickness,while the intermediate strip 31 is of an extremely flexible steel suchas high grade Swedish steel of about .004 of an inch. With this type ofgripper, the intermediate strip is particularly yieldable to preventinterfering with the ready reception of a very thin sheet of paper inthe act of advancing the same while the outer strips 36 and 38 serve anentirely different purpose. While the strip 38 might be as flexible asthe intermediate strip 31, a strip composed of half tempered steel, ifthin enough, will serve the purpose, so long as it snugly engages theupper face of the paper 55 to prevent the sheet of material being fedfrom unintentionally passing under the strip 38 between the strip 38 andthe paper 55. The strip 36, on the other hand, should be of a stiffernature than that of the strip 31 to act as a buffer, reenforcement andprotection to the intermediate strip 31. The free end of the strip 31need not necessarily engage the free end of the strip 36 so long as theportion 56 thereof is spaced from the strip 36 and in engagement withthe upper face of the strip 38 so that the bowed portion 56 of theintermediate strip 31 may cooperate with the upper face of the adjacentportion of the strip 38 frictionally to anchor the card, sheet of paper,or the like in printing position. The portion 4I in these pins isprovided to serve as the forward stop for the card, sheet of paper, orthe like, that is, the material to be printed, the strips 31 and 36 thuscooperating with the portion 4I to anchor the strip in printingposition.

Still furthermore, the knurled wheels 52 will ride on the edges of thematerial to be printed and provide additional frictional contact due tothe resiliency of the strip 36 so that the material to be printed may befrictionally anchored in position against the strip 38 between the bowedportions 56 and knurled wheels 52. With the pivot point, to-wit: the pin5I of the knurled roller 52 disposed above the strip 31, the arc of theroller 52 exposed below the strip 31 for engagement with the material tobe printed, will cooperate to facilitate ready feed of the sheet ofmaterial to be printed while being advanced into and out of printingposition.

In operation with the platen I in descended open position, and thematerial to be printed in a stack 21, the nozzle 5 will be lowered intoengagement with the upper face of the top sheet in the stack 21whereupon the suction nozzle will act to pick up the uppermost sheet andthen rise with the sheet so picked. Thereupon the feed grippers 6 of thecarrier 1 will move to receive the sheet so raised, grip it, and willthen advance it into gripping engagement with the grippers 35 on theplaten I. Thereupon, the carrier 1 will clear the platen I and theplaten I will close into printing position. After the impression, theplaten I will open, and upon assuming the position shown in dash-and-dotlines in Fig. 1, the removing fingers 51 on the shaft 58 at the end ofthe arm 59 will swing over, open its jaws, and engage the sheet held bythe grippers 35 and remove the same, whereupon the platen I will returnto the original open position ready to receive the next feed.

The form of gripper 60, shown in Fig. 6, differs from the form ofgripper 35 shownin Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 primarily in that it dispenseswith the wheel 52 and consequently, of course, with the functionperformed by the wheel 52, in this case -depending entirely upon africtional lock, namely, that between the bowed portion 6I of theintermediate strip 62, and the lower strip 63.

The gripper or fork shown in Figs. 12 and 13 is of the type whichdispenses with the securing prongs, such as the prongs 43, 46 and 41 ofthe form shown in Fig. 2. The lower strip 64 corresponding to the strip38 of the embodiment shown in Fig. 2 is enlarged at its front end intothe bifurcated extension 65. 'Ihe intermediate strip `66 composed ofhigh grade Swedish steel of about .004 of an inch in thickness, issecured at its free end to the rear end of the upper face of theextension by soldering, welding and the like, and then bent over to formthe flange 68 folded upon the front end of the upper strip 61 andsecured thereto by soldering, welding or the like. The' upper strip 61,similar to the strip 36 of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2, isprovided with a knurled wheel 69 which also extends through an openingin the intermediate strip 66 and normally rests on the upper face of thelower strip 64 so that the sheet of paper constituting the material tobe printed is frictionally secured against the lower strip 64 by theknurled wheel 69 and the bowed portion 10 of the intermediate `highlyflexible, high grade Swedish steel grip 66.

The fork shown in Figs. 12 and 13 is secured to a support by a screw orthe like, not shown, passing through the recess 1I into the support. Thesupport may be the platen, such as the platen I in Fig. 1, when thesheet to be printed remains in the fork and thereby positioned on theplaten during the printing operation, or thel fork may be secured to aportion of the frame adjacent the edge of the platen to facilitateremoving the fork after the sheet to be printed has been positioned andbefore the platen is moved into closed printing position.

The embodiment shown in Figs. l0 and 11 of guides for the stacks ofsheets on the platform 3, before being advanced onto the platen I',presents as an advantage added flexibility. With this embodiment,labels, cards, sheets of paper or like work of different sizes, both asto width as well as length, may be stacked in position to be advancedonto the platen I. As an instance, here, instead of the plate 8 shown inFig. '7, there is provided a plate 12 of suflicient thickness so that itmay accommodate the slots 13, 14 and 15 with the diminished Vnecks 16.The slots 13, 14 and 15 are provided to accommodate the bases 11 of thepins 18 `which extend up through the posts 'I9 which, in turn, areprovided with polygonally shaped diminished ends slidably mounted butfixed against rotation in the ranged in pairs, the web 86 of the strip84 extending from the edge of the strip 84 remote from the strip 85, andthe web 81 extending from the edge of the strip remote from the strip84. It will be noted that the spacing of the strips 84 and 8'5 of eachpair are independent of one another so that the material stacked by Thepins 18 extend up beyond the upper ends of the brackets formed by theposts 19 and arms 8l and 82 and are preferably threaded at the upperends to receive the wing nuts 88 byfmeans of which the brackets may beanchored in thev plate 12 at a predetermined distance removed from theedge 89 or from the stop wall 9, shown in Fig. 7, when the plate 12 issecured on the platform 3. In this way, it willappear that-theindividualV pairs of strips 84 and 85 may be anchored at differentdistances from the edge89 or stop 9 to accommodate stacks of differentlengths relative to one another.

Thel arrangement of the embodiment shown in Figs. 10 and 11 also providefor greater Widths than that made possible by the combined lengths ofthe arms 8| and 82 by using the'strip 84 of the rst orsecond pair foralining one side of the sheet of material to be printed and the strip'85of the second or third pair, in which case the intermediate strips 85and 84 will, of course, `be removed. The strips 84 and 85, whilenormally slidable on'the arms'l and 82, respectively, may be anchored inplace by the set screws 90 extending through the blocks 83 andfrictionally engaging the arms 8| or 82 in anchoring or lockingposition. l i

The plate 12 may be secured to the platform 3 by a set screw 9| similarto that shown in Fig. 7a screw threadedly connected to the shoe I 9|slidably mounted in the slot 92 formed in y the platform 3, the setscrew `SH extending through an opening in the plate 12 similar to themanner of securing the platel 8 to the platl form 3.

The guides I1 and I8 Vof the embodiment shown in Figs. '1` vand 8 areslidably mounted on the bar L6 to adjust for they Width of the materialto be printed. The space between the stop 9 and the rear faces of thewebs 22 and 24 is adjustable by moving the plate 8 relative to theplatform 3, and I`8' relative to lone another have been determined, theset screws 20 will be actuated to anchor the guides l1 and I8 relativeto one another on the bar I6, and when the space between the stop'9 andthe rear faces of thewebs 22 and l,

24 has been determined for a given job, the set screws l0 will beactuated to anchor the plate l8 in such position onthe platform 3.

In operation, after the printing impression has taken place, and theplaten l has moved into When the spaces of the guides .I1K

the position shown in dash-and-dot lines in Fig.r`

l, as is well knownin the Miller feeder, such as disclosed in Patent No.1,194,327, issued to E. Cheshire, dated August 8, 1916, the fingers 51will be actuated to grip the sheet 93 and carry it over to the trough-94and deposit it therein.

It is obvious that various changes and modications may be made tothedetails of'construction without departing from the general spirit of theinvention as set forth in the appended claims. l

I claim:

1`. The Acombination of a feeder platform having stack forming guidesoperatively associated therewith corresponding in position to thegrippers on the platen of a printing press,'said guides including atransversely extending support, and wings slidably mounted on saidsupport to correspond to the width of the material to be print- 2. Thecombination of a feeder platform havying stack forming guidesoperatively associated therewith corresponding in position to thegrippers on the platen of a printing press, said guides ring means.

4. The combination of a feeder platform having' a stop wall at the rearthereof, a plate securedto said platform, a transversely extending barsecured to the plate, pairs of guides slidably mounted on said bar butxed against rotation, the guides of each 'pair having rearwardly eX-tending flanges spaced from one 'another according to the width of thematerial to be printed, said plate being adjustably secured to saidplatform to ladjust the position of the guides relative to said stopwall to correspond to the length of the material to be printed.

5. lThe combination of a feederplatform having a stop wall at thev rearthereof, a plate secured to said platform, a transversely extending barsecured to the plate, pairs of guides slidably mountedv on said'bar butfixed ragainst rotation, the guides of each pair'having rearwardlyextending flanges spaced from one another according to the width of thematerial to be printed, said plate being adjustably secured to saidplatform to adjust the position of the guides relative to said stop wallto correspond to the length of the material to be printed, therearwardly extending flange on one'of said guides being longer than thatof the flange on its associated guide to accommodate a sheet, card orlabel having a rounded edge on one side.

6. The combination of a feeder platform having a stop Wall at the rearthereof, a plate secured to said platform, a plurality of bracketshaving transversely extending arms mounted on said plate independent ofone another, guides Amounted on said arms and having rearwardlyextending webs, said guides vbeing slidably mounted ing to the width ofthe material to `be printed, means for securing the guides againstmovement when so positioned, said brackets being slidably mounted on.said plate to adjust forv the length of the material to be printed, andmeans for securing the brackets against movement when properlypositioned.

7. The combination of a feeder platform having a stop wall at the rearthereof, a plate vsecured to said platform, a plurality of bracketshaving transversely extending arms mounted on said plate independent ofone another, guides mounted on said arms and having rearwardly extendingwebs, said guides being slidably mounted on said arms and removabletherefrom to space lthe guides selected according to the width of thematerial to be printed, and means for securing positioned ARTHUR SHIPP.

